The present invention relates to a switching system data inheritance method and system and, more particularly, to a data inheritance method and system which are used to make a database inherit subscriber information and the like used in a switching system from a database when the database have different structures.
In general, various management data such as subscriber information used for call connection processing in a switching system are stored in a database to be managed as a software file (operation file), together with software programs for controlling various types of hardware constituting the switching system. When the database structure needs to be changed to, for example, provide the subscribers with a new service, inheritance of data from an old database to a new database is required as the software file is updated.
Various methods have been proposed as such switching system data inheritance methods. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-292992 discloses a method of storing all subscriber information transferred from a database via common channel equipment in a database having a new structure. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-283894 discloses a method in which information indicating a specific type of conversion processing required for old data is registered in a table, and batch processing is performed.
According to the former method as a conventional switching system data inheritance method, information transferred via common channel equipment is inherited. For this reason, a separate conversion program or the like must be developed for management information, which is not generally transferred via the common channel equipment, to execute inheritance processing. According to the latter method, since information about conversion processing required for old data is registered in a table, information about conversion processing for each type of data must be registered depending on each database structure.
Limitations and restrictions regarding data types in data inheritance processing and changes in structure demand creation of new conversion programs or changes of programs, resulting in an increase in operation load. In addition, processing errors caused in creation/changes of conversion programs degrade the reliability of a new database.